


All the Difference in the World

by Winterstar



Category: Avengers Academy (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Happy Ending, Hurt Tony Stark, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Permanent Injury, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tropes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-26
Updated: 2017-12-26
Packaged: 2019-02-15 04:09:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13022949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Winterstar/pseuds/Winterstar
Summary: It's Tony's luck that on his first date with Steve away from the Academy, they end up abducted by AIM agents and it looks like their boss just might reveal Tony's big secret.





	All the Difference in the World

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Lunatical](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lunatical/gifts).



> The prompt is in the end notes - it spoils the story. It is a little triggery for permanent injuries.
> 
> A special thank you to thegraytigress for the beta. All mistakes are mine! I own them, no one else can have them! ;)

ALL THE DIFFERENCE IN THE WORLD

On his knees, hands up in surrender, Tony glances at Steve and bites back words of apology. This wasn’t how he planned their first big date. Getting off campus and going into the city for a real date seemed like a great idea – at the time. The thought crosses his mind that the whole thing was probably a set up. He shouldn’t be lured by the off chance there might be a rare cheese platter available at the recommended restaurant. Even villains know his weakness for fromage. It should have been the perfect date, a beautiful little French restaurant tucked along the riverside with outdoor seating. The candle light, the twinkling strings of white lights along the short wrought iron fencing separating the tables and chairs from the sidewalk – it sparkled and just oozed romance. The reflection of the lights in the dark river created a warm ambiance. It was everything Tony had hoped for, but then again, he should have thought better of a place with outdoor seating, recommended by questionable sources.

After all, they are from Avengers Academy and the place is constantly being attacked by Hydra, or Thanos, or AIM or the villain of the week. Sometimes the place felt like there was one event after another. Speaking of which, Tony’s fairly certain their assailants may be from the nefarious underworld of AIM. The Avengers Academy might have been able to put AIM out of business once or twice, but the truth remains that there is a dark underground world were the likes of AIM rule. And whatever horrible device they used on Steve to neutralize him might just be one of the most dangerous weapons they’ve invented. 

Two AIM thugs grasp Steve by his arms but his head hangs down and his mouth is open, drool leaking down the side of his chin. It’s not Steve’s most attractive look. Standing over Tony, the three other AIM agents have electrical prods pointed at his head. Tony assesses the place and wishes that he’d not asked Steve for that moonlight walk along the riverbank because they were jumped and hustled to a van. Steve fought, fought his damnedest. Tony should have been able to take them out with this gauntlet and then flown out of there with his boots, but they’d used some kind of EMP on them. It rendered Tony useless but not Steve. Steve battled all of their assailants. The five left were the ones already in the van. They burst out and used same kind of electric prod on Steve that they now have aimed at Tony’s head. When the thugs used the prods on Steve, their charges connected together and shocked the shit out of Steve.

And to think the whole date had been going so well. Tony had almost gathered up the courage to finally confess his deepest secret to Steve. It would have been a make or break moment in their relationship. It wasn’t something many people knew at all about him, but telling Steve – well it was something that Tony both longed to do and hated the thought of doing. When he considered asking Steve out, it had been Jan who gently nudged him to tell the truth.

“You can’t just date someone and not tell them something like that, Tony. It isn’t right,” Jan had said as they buzzed the academy. 

Often times when Tony needed to think, he would take to the air over the academy, but Jan always knew when he was avoiding things. As he circled the campus, she followed him, buzzing like a bee around his head, and eventually they ended up sitting on the top of Stark Tower, having one of those therapeutic sessions that Jan liked to pop on people.

He listened to her. “You don’t know, Jan. It’s not like you have the same thing. You don’t have these insecurities.”

She giggled, but placed her hands on his arm as she did. “I’m not laughing at you, sweetie. I’m just surprised you haven’t figured out all the costumes and such yet. You being such a genius and all.”

“Costumes? I thought you were just making money in your store.” 

Jan shook her head. Momentarily she shrunk down and and her wings vibrated. Then she popped back to her normal size. “Aw, honey, you have to realize we all have our way of dealing with stress and anxieties. I like to dress up, experience other things so I don’t have to face my worries.” She touched his gauntlet. “Tell him. He’ll understand.”

“He already looks at me funny because I never -.” He didn’t finish, he couldn’t – it was just too difficult to voice the truth.

“You need to tell him, Tony,” Jan said. She miniaturized and lifted off from the roof. Her wings glittered in the sunlight. “Tell him.” 

Tony should have listened, because now he’s faced with the impossible. AIM transported them to some non-descript place in the city. He’s certain they didn’t go over a bridge, and he can still smell the docks. The shack they’re in now looks like it was once a restaurant near the water for dock workers. But it must have been abandoned years ago, and time and probably squatters have taken their toll on the building. Tony, though, doesn’t have time to figure out their location or methods of escape because their assailants have a very unique request. One of the AIM attackers points a weapon at Tony’s head. “Take off the boots and the gauntlet.”

“How about we go halfers on that? Like I’ll take off the boots and I keep the gauntlet?” Tony says and winks. 

That doesn’t go over well. Instead of hitting Tony, they zapped Steve’s unconscious body again with the electrical prod device. It arcs over him as the goons drop him. He seizes on the cold concrete and Tony grimaces. “Stop, just stop!”

The AIM leader – a tall, very muscular, bald headed woman with sunglasses and tattoos of dragons over her scalp – nods to her ally. She’s a force to be reckoned with and, for a horrible moment, Tony doubts even Steve could take her. She must be a product of some of AIM’s weird and very dubious research. The man stops torturing Steve and Tony exhales. The AIM leader – Tony can’t stop himself from calling her Dragon Lady – points to Tony’s boots and arm. “Get them off. Now.”

Tony eyes the men guarding him. He swallows down his routine sarcastic remark and then shifts to sit on his ass to take off the boots. Each boot comes off easily enough, with a flick of a switch on the side of the heel. The boot folds down and then collapses into a metallic disc. The gauntlet - that’s a different story. He inhales and holds his breath as he glances over at Steve and then to Dragon Lady herself. Steve’s coming around from the latest battering, but Dragon Lady only has eyes for Tony. He hesitates before he touches the gauntlet. He doesn’t know if anyone outside his family knows .Jan and Rhodey knew of course but they’ve been his friends since forever. Tony’s sure his dad kept it out of the media and the public eye. No one ever reported on it. Sure people know about the arc reactor, but they don’t know about the gauntlet – no one knows about the gauntlet. They think it’s part of his superhero persona. It’s what brought him to the Avengers Academy in the first place. 

Yet, it’s more than a gauntlet– so much more than a simple weapon. Tony gathers his strength. He could try once more, shoot them, take them out, but the problem remains that he has no idea what the setting on those electrical prods are or if they could do serious damage to Steve. Killing isn’t out of the picture. He has no choice but to reveal his secret. 

Reaching toward his elbow, Tony hits the panel and the metal alloy door flips open. He chews on his lip as the sweat lines his temples. Dragon Lady hisses at him to hurry up. They want his tech. That’s all they think they’re going to get it. He frowns and hits the command. It triggers the arm release. He grabs his forearm and slides the gauntlet – and his arm – off. 

“What the hell?” One of the goons says.

He swallows down his fear and tries to keep his reaction stone cold. He knows it’s not working. Dragon Lady starts first, the hysterical laughter that’s right out of a bad horror movie. She grabs the gauntlet and thrusts it into the air like some kind of trophy. The henchman on his left side gives him a kick in the thigh causing Tony to tumble, collapsing to his right. Instinctively he holds out his right arm to brace himself, but there’s nothing there except his stump. He falls hard; his stump taking the brunt of his collision with the concrete floor. Cringing, he curls around the stump and hisses through the pain. He always has phantom pain from when he suffered the amputation. But this, this is worse. This is real pain and utter shame. 

“Who knew that Howard Stark’s little Avenger is nothing more than a cripple,” Dragon Lady mocks. Using his left hand to brace himself, Tony climbs back to his knees and then cradles his right arm against his chest. Dragon Lady glares at him and then there’s the smallest of sounds from Steve as he finishes grappling his way back to consciousness. He rolls to the side and the henchmen watching him allow him to come awake. He blinks as he peers at Tony, his brow furrowing in confusion.

“Tony?” Steve says.

Dragon Lady steps between them and bends down, hovering over Steve. “All I wanted was the tech, but it looks like I actually got more than that, didn’t I?” 

Tony turns his face away as he feels the heat of embarrassment burn. He hears a scuffle and turns to see Steve lurching up, a stricken look of horror on his face. 

“Tony, what did they do? What did they do to you?” Steve cries out as they shock him with another one of the electric prods. He grits his teeth, fighting against the agony.

“Stop it! Stop it!” Tony screams. Tears leak from his eyes, but their captors ignore his pleas. Instead he turns to Steve. “Steve, stop! Stop!” 

Steve ceases his struggles and then falls to the concrete again, shivering from the pain. He never takes his eyes off of Tony, though. A sadness pervades his expression, his eyes deep with sorrow. This isn’t Steve’s fault. It cuts through Tony. He wants to tell Steve it’s not his fault, it’s not that way. Tony lost his arm at the same time he ended up with the arc reactor. If Yinsen hadn’t taken his arm, Tony would be dead from the infection of his wounds. Tony knees over to Steve and thankfully, their attackers don’t stop him. Tony touches Steve’s arm and there’s a shudder before he calms. 

“It’s okay, Steve. They didn’t do anything to me,” Tony whispers and it kills him to see Steve’s fears etched in his face in silent accusal as if Tony is lying to him. He shakes his head. “It’s true. They didn’t hurt me.”

Steve cringes as he tries to reach toward Tony, but the AIM creep standing over him uses the prod as a bully stick and rams it against his abdomen. Steve flinches but that only serves to fire his rage. Tony grabs for Steve when he tries to pitch forward to attack. 

“Stay, just stay.” They don’t have a way out, they don’t have a play right now. Tony hasn’t been able to survey the place or get a good feel of the dilapidated restaurant. It’s dark and the only light in the room is through the cracked, greasy, and dirty windows. That’s pitiful since it’s night time and the lamp outside flickers. Luckily he’s wearing a thick, dark sweater that covers the arc reactor. Hopefully, the loons that kidnapped them will forget about his reactor. Dragon Lady seems too obsessed with the fact that Tony is missing half his arm. Which, if Tony thinks about it, is a good diversion. 

“This is delicious. Look at him. Poor boy. Did your daddy try and turn you into his robot?” Dragon Lady says and giggles with a high-pitched sound that grates the air and probably causes several flocks of birds to drop out of the sky. 

Steve grimaces and rolls to his side. Tony places his hand on Steve’s shoulder, trying to keep him down and quiet. Right now, Tony has to figure out how to get out of this place. 

“What’d ya want we do with them?” one of the AIM henchman asks.

Dragon Lady studies them. Her eyes narrow and she focuses on Tony as if she’s debating internally with herself. “I wanted to kill him and take the reactor. But I think we need to see what’s going on under this skin.”

Well, there goes that hope. 

She waves to the AIM agent closest to Tony. “Take his shirt off.”

At this remark, Tony can’t help but struggle. He bats away the thug but he’s at a disadvantage with only one arm, no shoes, and no weapons. When all the attention shifts to Tony, Steve must take the opportunity to leap to his aid because like a force of nature he plows through the Dragon Lady’s henchmen picking up one and ramming the man into two others. In seconds the remaining agents have their prods out, circling Steve. Tony shakes his head; he can’t see Steve writhing around on the dirty floor again. 

“Please, Steve, stay down.” Tony bites back his fears as Steve engages again. He kicks the one man in the chin and as his head snaps up. Steve grabs the hand holding the prod, spins backward into the man, and then back flips him with a great thud to deliver him to the floor. Steve’s armed now with one of the prods. 

The other two henchmen hesitate. Tony scuttles away, getting away from the fight. Steve grins as he points the prod at the men.

“It’s calibrated for me. I wonder what it would do to a non-enhanced human being,” Steve asks and flicks the switch. Blue electrical arcs sizzle through the air looking for ground. The henchmen glance at their boss.

Dragon Lady growls, “What are you waiting for? Take him down. We need him alive.”

Well, that doesn’t sound good. They must have plans for Steve as well as Tony. Shit.

“Steve,” Tony whispers. He doesn’t have to do this, he doesn’t have to sacrifice himself for Tony. Why would he? But Steve isn’t listening. He’s in front of Tony, guarding him. The prod pointed at their attackers, his other hand out and back as if shielding Tony from further harm. 

“Get him, you fools!” Dragon Lady screeches and their terror of her overcomes their fear of Steve and they launch their strike. Foolishly.

They telegraph their attack and Steve reads it flawlessly. The first one flies at Steve and without pause, Steve slams him with the electrical prod while at the same time jumping into the air and kicking out at his other attacker. He kicks the man in the mid-section with enough force to fling him across the room. His first attacker goes down in shock from the electrical prod. He’s out like a light. The other one rolls to plant his face on the cold floor, but Dragon Lady screams for him to get up. He groans and peers up at Steve who looks a lot like he might actually turn into the Hulk as he hovers over the man. The AIM henchman flops over and Steve, tilting his head as he considers him, pulls back his fist and hits him square in the jaw sending him to unconsciousness.

That’s not the end – of course it isn’t the end. Steve is too far from Tony – only meters but that’s enough for their attacker’s boss to grasp the opportunity. Dragon Lady’s patience burns low and she seizes the Iron Man gauntlet – Tony’s arm and points it at his head. “Now is not the time to be a hero, you out of date American fake.”

“Fake?” Tony asks and side eyes her.

Dragon Lady screams, “Shut up.” She strikes him with the arm using it as a battering ram. Tony goes down, the joints of the fingers tearing his cheek and the hot blood leaks down his face. She turns to Steve. “I will do worse that just hit him with this.”

Tony covers his face and wipes away the blood, surely smearing it along his cheek and jaw. Grappling he manages to get back to his knees and he sees Steve is considering surrendering. The prod he’s holding drops a degree as he studies Dragon Lady and then the vulnerable position Tony is in. He tries to meet Steve’s gaze, tell him not to do anything stupid, not to surrender now. Just minutes ago he wanted Steve to stay down but right now Dragon Lady is not as armed as she thinks. His gauntlet arm isn’t going to work without being connected up to Tony’s body. It needs the physical connector embedded in Tony’s elbow joint. Sure, if she wanted to Dragon Lady could beat the crap out of Tony with it, but it’s only a bat right now, not much more than that.

Steve eases his stance. “Leave him alone.”

“I will blast him out of existence if you don’t put that down and come with me.”

“Kinda weird you didn’t just bring us to your underground lair instead of the stop over at the beautiful restaurant by the docks,” Tony spits out. When is he ever going to learn not to spout his mouth off?

“Well, it’s easier to dump a body at the docks.” She smiles and she looks like a lizard that just ate a rat. She circles him as Steve watches. His hand with the prod is at his side. Thankfully, he hasn’t dropped it – yet. Dragon Lady chuckles a little under her breath. “I’m not stupid enough to bring you to my home base before I ensure there’s no homing devices on you.”

Tony scans the AIM agents. They’re starting to wake up. He shifts his focus momentarily to Steve and then back to one of the thugs stirring on the floor. He needs to find out a way to tell Steve Dragon Lady is unarmed. 

Steve eases down, bending to put the prod on the floor and Tony nearly snarls at him. Dragon Lady laughs. 

“Don’t hurt him.” Steve meets Tony’s gaze; there’s something there – a quiet message that’s not delineated but it’s still clear enough for Tony to read it. They’ve been fighting side by side for over a year now. 

“Get on your knees and I’ll think about not blasting him in the head,” Dragon Lady sneers. Her eyes glitter in the dim light. She’s wearing a military style vest, baring her arms. Tony can see the thick muscles of her arms twitch in anticipation.

“If you hurt him again, I’ll hurt you,” Steve says and he inches closer. But he has no weapons and his focus trains on Tony. 

Is Tony reading it wrong? Doesn’t Steve understand how very dangerous this situation could become if he lets the AIM agents regain consciousness and their footing in this battle. What is Steve playing at?

“Get on your knees!” Dragon Lady screams and then sidles over to one of her henchmen to kick him into action. “Get up, you idiot.” The man only groans in response. She still points the useless gauntlet at Tony.

They have no time. Tony silently implores Steve to do something. Anything! And then he sees it, Steve watches her – he’s estimating something. That tactical brain of his speeds through the different possibilities; Tony can practically see him play through the potential outcomes as if they are holographic displays before them. Steve analyzes each one, tossing away the too dangerous, the ones destined to fail as he works toward a solution.

With a nearly imperceptible nod to Tony, Steve races at Dragon Lady while he yells out, “Get down!”

Tony falls to the floor at the same time Steve flips over him. His legs impact with Dragon Lady’s face and chest. She stumbles and staggers to the floor, the gauntlet still gripped in her clutches. As soon as Steve scrambles to her, she brings the gauntlet up and tries to activate it. Steve never hesitates, as if he’s read Tony’s mind and knows the armored appendage is non-functional without its connection. When the gauntlet only sputters and dies, Dragon Lady howls in response and attempts to get up as she screams for the AIM agents to help her. They all stay down. Steve stalks after her as she clambers to get to her feet. She throws the gauntlet and Steve catches it without even looking. He’s a predator, fixated on his prey. 

“Fuck! Get them, you idiots!” she screams and then manages to scoop up one of the prods before Steve rushes her. 

Tony cries out, “No! Steve!”

Tony gets to his stocking feet, trying to help. His face throbs, his arm aches. He’s no good. He’s not a hero. He’s nothing but a kid without an arm. Brains or no brains, he can never live up to Steve and the other Avengers now. Yet as Steve rushes at Dragon Lady, Tony can’t let it alone. He races to the gauntlet, but one of the agents has awoken and seizes the arm. The agent looks dazed, not firing on all cylinders. Tony doesn’t allow it to stop him. He throws his entire body at the agent just as he hears the crackle of the electric prod. A mixture of screams cut the air with both Dragon Lady and Steve suffering as they battle, hand to hand for control of the prod. 

Tony barrels into the agent holding the gauntlet and slams a fist into his face. The man falls into unconsciousness. Without pause, Tony seizes his arm and works to reconnect it. All the while, Steve and Dragon Lady are locked in combat, the arc of raw current an eerie glow as the electricity snaps around them. It reminds Tony of the Emperor’s perversion of the Force in the Return of the Jedi. How the hell either one of them is still alert and fighting and not shuddering in a puddle of their own drool, Tony doesn’t know.

With gauntlet in hand, Tony pulls up his empty sleeve and snaps the elbow joint onto his stump and he feels the click and the thrum of energy hum through his muscles and nerves of his upper arm. He mutters, “Come on, come on.” It takes 30 seconds for the full power of the repulsor to come online when his limb has been removed. His mind flies through the seconds as the combatants before him continue to struggle through their battle.

30…29…28…27…25 – He feels the weight of the arm against his upper arm. Dragon Lady screeches as the arcs of electrical current hit her. Tony sees the blue fire of the current burn through both Steve and Dragon Lady. Her eyes seem to catch the blue fire and glow in the darkened room.

24…23…22…21…20 – The arm sends the signal to his brain and the connection verifies with a simple open and closing of his fist. Tony raises his arm and aims toward the arcs of blue lightning. The agents around Tony start to revive. He doesn’t have the time. Steve has the advantage against Dragon Lady but she still grips the prod, controlling the current as they fight. He pushes at her and dislodges her but for a moment. Instantly she leaps at him again and hits him with another surge of current.

19…18…17…16…15 –An agent leaps at Tony but he spins around and slams his armored fist into the man’s face. There’s a sickening crunch and a tooth flies loose. Tony yells to Steve. “Get clear!”

14…13…12…11…10 – Both Steve and Dragon Lady jerk at his order. Tony finds himself in her crosshairs. Another agent crawls awake and grips Tony’s ankle only to have Tony bash him in the eye with his gauntlet.

9…8…7 – Steve jumps and reaches out, seizing Dragon Lady’s collar and yanking her back. She slams the prod onto Steve’s hand. He cries out, the sound of his pain an agony slicing through Tony’s heart.

6…5…4 – Steve clamps his hand around Dragon Lady’s wrist and grits his teeth as he attempts to get himself free of the electrical charge of the prod. Dragon Lady roars, “I don’t need you alive to get your blood.” The charge strengthens and Steve goes rigid with the current. 

3…2…1 – “Now!” Tony aims the repulsor and fires. The shot strikes Dragon Lady in the back, scorching a hole in her spine. She collapses, the prod clanging to the floor as Steve sways on his feet but manages to stay upright. He looks to Dragon Lady and then to Tony, a small smile on his face.

Tony steps over to Steve and grabs his elbow. The other AIM agents stir but Tony’s armed and Steve’s not going to let those prods bring him down again. “I hit the emergency alert on the gauntlet. The Avengers should be here any minute.”

Regardless, Steve stoops down and picks up the prod that he dropped during the fight. He holds it more like a shield than a weapon. Blinking, he sniffles as a light trickle of blood runs out of his nostril. When Tony tries to inquire about it, Steve only shushes him. For a second, his gaze focuses on Tony’s arm, and then he looks away. “Okay.”

And that says it all to Tony. His heart sinks and that old phantom pain in his forearm aches. It hurts more than his beaten face. As the doors of the ramshackle restaurant burst open and their friends from Avengers Academy surround them, Tony fades away into his joking persona. He’s all smiles and casual flippant remarks. In the crowd, Tony and Steve get separated and he supposes it is for the best. For a second as he talks with Rhodey and Jan, Tony glances over at Steve with Peggy and the Bucky circling him. Tony realizes just how out of his league Steve is. Not only is Steve Captain America, but he’s a different generation, a different time. Someone like Tony’s just a cripple in Steve’s eyes. 

He lets Jan usher him out of the building that used to be a restaurant as they collect Tony’s boots, and then he jets away. He spends the next three hours flying over the city with Jan buzzing close and Rhodey hovering as well. He doesn’t talk. He just flies through the night.

By the time Tony arrives back at his Tower on campus, the sun crests over the water to welcome the new day. He thinks about going to his hot tub on the roof to relax and watch the day break, but his phantom pain is back and all he wants to do is remove the gauntlet. He goes to his bedroom, ignores the wide windows brightening with the new day, and ends up in the en suite bathroom, his arm released from the gauntlet and the boots sitting tucked next to his armored prosthetic in the corner. He supposes Jan was right. She tried to talk to him afterward, but he wouldn’t let her. She didn’t know what happened. How Steve saw him without the gauntlet. How Tony became nothing without his armor. How Steve could have died because of Tony’s weakness. What was he without his armor? Nothing but a -. He stops himself. His mother would never let him say it, never. But it’s there and there’s no way to deny who he is.

With his shirt stripped off, Tony stands at the sink and stares at his reflection in the mirror. Sure, the scars on his chest have always bothered him, but he’s worn it as a badge of honor. Losing his arm though had been something different, led to a source of shame. His mother held him and told him there was no shame in his impairment. Yet he felt incomplete. He couldn’t hold her back. He only had a stump. She kissed the crown of his head and supported him through his recovery. When he built the gauntlet she smiled but also told him that he needed to accept who he was.

Did he ever do that? He doesn’t know. Sure, he spends most of his time with his armored arm on, but he’s at Avengers Academy. The place is cesspool of villains and possible end of the world scenarios. He needs the gauntlet on at all times. But now, Steve knows, knows his weakness. Knows that Tony can never hold him, never truly embrace him.

He turns on the water filling the bowl of the sink. Leaning down, he cups his hand and washes his face, running his wet fingers through his hair. When he stands up he feels none of the refreshing wash he hoped for but instead a kind of drowned feeling wells up. He unstoppers the bowl of the sink, releasing the water to drain, and then he walks away. He doesn’t want to look in the mirror anymore. He doesn’t want to see his bruised stump. Crossing into his bedroom, he glances at the windows and then his king sized bed. Dropping down on the bed, he sits curled over and ignores that it is daylight. He doesn’t see the light. His world narrows down and tunnels to the dark. 

“Tony?”

He startles and looks to find Steve standing at the doorway to his bedroom. How he got in and how he was never alerted by his AI crosses Tony’s mind but immediately dissipates as Steve hangs back. He holds onto the side of the doorframe as if he needs it to stay standing, to stay upright, to shore up his courage. 

“I wanted to see if you were okay,” Steve says and his words are gentle, soft like a clear moonless night. Not revealing but welcoming all the same.

Tony moves his stump, trying to hide it. Which is ridiculous. He cringes and says, “What? What do you want? Come to gawk at the cripple?” 

Steve screws up his face and drops his hand. He’s stronger now, more forceful. “What? No. I wanted to know if you needed any help. I thought-.” He stops and swallows. “I thought you might need someone- need- need me to be with you?” He furrows his brows and studies Tony. “I wanted to know if you were going to be okay because-.”

Tony waits and when Steve doesn’t add anything further he lashes out, “Because you know cripples always need help? Is that how it was in your day?”

The high color on Steve’s cheeks reddens and he shakes his head. “No, Tony. No. People might have been a lot less – what do you call it – woke back then, but I don’t think that way. I don’t.” 

Tony knows that Steve could very well act offended and stalk off. But he hasn’t. He’s standing his ground. Maybe it’s the tender expression on Steve’s face that rubs Tony just the right way, or maybe Tony’s just too damned tired or disappointed, but he lifts up his stump and shows it to Steve. “You want to see it. You want to gawk at my stump?”

Instead of being ashamed, Steve takes the invitation at face value. He crosses the room and settles on the bed next to Tony. With a gentle hand he brushes his fingers over the end of Tony’s stump. The numbness that still exists from the injury and the surgery he’d had makes it difficult for Tony to actually feel Steve’s exploration. Tony should be insulted, but he’s not. He’s genuinely curious about Steve’s light fingers on his arm.

“You’re all right? I see some discoloration and bruising,” Steve remarks. One hand is touching Tony’s stump and the other is resting on Tony’s opposite shoulder. They could very nearly be embracing. But then again Tony can’t do that – not without his prosthetic. 

Tony wants to snap back at Steve, but he finds himself answering in a whispered voice. “Yeah. It’s okay. Just a few bruises. I’ll have the doc take a look at it today.”

Steve presses his mouth together and shakes his head. “You should have gone to SHIELD with me. You could be hurt.” His gaze is intense on Tony. “They checked me over.”

“For burns?” Tony says and hates himself a little bit. He’d been so full of himself over the gauntlet and the revelation that he never thought of the electrical burns Steve must have suffered. So many of them. Tony cannot even remember how many times the AIM agents actually hit Steve with the prod, and then there was the crazy ass hand to hand combat Steve engaged with Dragon Lady. His whole body must be one big burn. 

“Everything’s okay. I’m fine. I’ll be fine,” Steve corrects. “It’ll heal.” He must add the last because he realizes that Tony’s been concealing his health for all these months, and Steve needs to lead by example.

“Well, I’m glad?” Tony says and can’t keep the question out of his words.

“Yeah, it’s all good. What about you?” Steve says and he lets his hands drop to his own lap; they’re wrapped together. Tony feels empty and finds he wants Steve’s hands on him again. It’s foolish. No one outside of the doctors, nurses, and early on his mother ever touch his stump. Not since he got out of the hospital after the surgery. The fact that Steve openly touched him, didn’t shy away, and now sits expectantly next to Tony – it feels like an epiphany.

“I’m-.” What is he? Is he fine? Can he tell Steve what’s going on? He tries for the first. “I’m fine.”

“That’s not what Jan said,” Steve replies. He reaches for Tony’s hand and entangles his fingers. When Tony looks down he doesn’t know what to say to Steve. Hands clasped together, he wants to believe it, but can he?  
“Tell me.”

Tony wants to bite back his words, chew them up, and swallow them down, but he knows if he does that they will sit in his belly like a virus and eat away at him. “I saw how you looked at me. I saw how you looked at my arm.”

“I didn’t know,” Steve whispers, but there’s an edge of humiliation and fear.

“You think I’m deficient or something,” Tony says but his words aren’t accusatory, more resigned and pained.

Steve shakes his head and tightens his grip. “No. No. I see you as one of the bravest Avengers out there, one of the best of the Academy.” Steve looks into the middle distance as if he’s replaying what they’ve been through on their ‘date’. “I don’t think I could do that.”

“No,” Tony says. “I don’t want that. Sure, I’m not typical. But I don’t want to be at a different standard, a different level than anyone else on the team. You can’t do that.”

“I’m not saying that.”

Tony glares at him. “Aren’t you?” He shifts away and releases Steve. Standing, he paces the room. “I’m an Avenger just like you. Do you get a pass, like, for anything? For your lack of knowledge of today? No, you’re expected to work and get yourself up to speed. I don’t want a pass because I don’t have an arm.”

Steve watches him, digesting what Tony ranted about and then he says, “Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Yeah,” Steve says and lifts a shoulder in a shrug. “Yeah, okay.”

The confusion bubbles up. “So?” What does that mean? Tony wants to know. Will Steve still want him on the team? Will Fury kick him out of the Academy? “Are you ratting me out to Fury?”

Steve crosses his arm against his chest and considers Tony. “No, Tony, I’m not ratting you out. I seriously doubt that Fury doesn’t already know. Natasha’s always sneaking around campus, spying on everyone. And anyhow I think it might be best if you figure out a way so that only you or someone you trust can remove your arm. I mean you have to have some kind of security on that kind of thing.”

Tony throws his arms up and it must look ridiculous with one stump and one arm, but he doesn’t care. “Thing? My arm is a thing now?”

Steve presses his two fingers to his furrowed brows. Bowing his head, he says, “No, Tony, that’s not what I am saying.”

“Then what?”

Steve stands up and steps up to Tony, he blocks out the sunlight from the windows. The rays dance around him, a blinding white glare around him. He grasps Tony’s shoulders. “No, I want you to be safe. You’re important to me, very important. I want you to know how important. I can’t build some device, but you can. Please.Tony, I need you to be safe.”

Two words stand out. “Very important?” Tony gazes into Steve’s eyes. He can’t make out the blue of Steve’s eyes in the silhouette against the early morning light. “Very?”

Steve leans closer. “Very important. So very important.”

“Yeah?”

“More than anything,” Steve says. He edges closer as if he’s hoping for a kiss but can’t quite dig up the courage. Tony leaps for it, throws himself against Steve. Steve accepts him, lifts him off the ground and the kiss takes Tony into a dizzying daze. Tony moves to wrap his arms around Steve but then stops. He jerks away and the look of confusion on Steve’s face hits Tony in the chest and hollows him out.

“Sorry, sorry,” Tony says and then drags his hand through his hair. “I can’t, I can’t hug you. I can’t-.” He stops and muffles the pain.

Nothing dissuades Steve; Tony should know that by now. Steve smiles and furrows his brow. “What? You don’t have two legs?”

“Legs? Wha-?” Tony opens his eyes wide and his mouth agape at Steve. Steve only grin, and that smile has more cocksure attitude in it than Tony’s ever seen in him. “Legs, huh?” Tony bites the inside of his cheek. 

“Yeah, you got two legs, don’tcha?” A little of his Brooklyn accent seeps out. 

Truth be told, Tony just thinks it’s charming. He can’t stop a giggle from breaking free and the blush from warming his cheeks. He bows his head and touches his forehead to Steve’s chest. In respond Steve buries his face in Tony’s hair, curling his arms about him. All the while, Steve kisses the crown of Tony’s head and then quietly shushes him. It doesn’t make sense at first, but then Tony realizes he’s shivering as if being blasted by frigid air. 

“It’s okay, it’s okay,” Steve says. “I’m right here. Don’t worry. I’m not going anywhere.”

Tony wants to say something, wants to feel the laughter and the joy that he was wrong. He’s not wrong often, but now, now is a good time to be wrong. To know that Steve accepts him – that this is Tony’s normal and Steve sees it as normal. There’s nothing wrong with him. He’s whole and right and perfect in Steve’s eyes. It makes all the difference in the world.

“Not going anywhere?” Tony whispers and there’s an edge to his voice that even he cannot parse.

“Not anywhere,” Steve says, his hands dancing across Tony’s shoulders, down his back, to his hips. There’s not a part of Tony that Steve avoids. Every part he accepts.

Tony finds the courage to look up, to gaze upon Steve’s face, to meet his eyes. He finds no shame there, no shuttered glances, but only an offering that’s more than just tolerance. It’s an acknowledgement and a belief that this is who Tony is and Steve would not deny him, would not reject him. The concept, the idea, is simply repugnant to Steve.

And then it bursts forth, the purity of the moment, of knowing that there’s nothing _wrong_ with him. There is no normal, there is no typical, because he is what he is supposed to be – he is Tony Stark. In Steve’s eyes, that’s everything – Tony sees it, witnesses it play across Steve’s face. Tony doesn’t know how he does it, what launches him off of his feet and into Steve’s arms, but Tony embraces him, his one arm wrapped around Steve’s shoulder and his legs locked around his hips. Steve, like a tree, stands there, not moving, holding Tony. 

It makes all the difference in the world to know that Tony Stark is enough, is more than enough for Steve Rogers. When Tony lifts his head from nuzzling down into Steve’s neck, he sees exactly what he hoped for but never dreamed of – adoration, love, and acceptance. 

“So, tell me,” Tony ventures, still hanging onto Steve. “Do I get a kiss? I mean our date was kind of cut short and all.”

Steve looks to the side and does a half curve of his lips. “Well, you did promise me that romantic walk along the water and then a nightcap.”

Tony snickers but cannot take his eyes off of Steve. There’s nothing more perfect in the world, except for mathematics and maybe not even that. “A nightcap, huh?”

“Yeah, a nightcap.” Steve raises his eyebrow and waits.

“You’re a little more devious and flirty than I gave you credit for.” Tony grins.

“And you’re a little heavier than I thought you were,” Steve says and he shifts his weight and grapples to keep Tony in his arms. 

Tony smiles and winks at Steve. He swings back and then says, “Oh, I can fix that.” With all of his weight, Tony pushes forward, the momentum causing Steve to stagger backwards, hitting the bed with his legs and then Tony lifts up in Steve’s arms. That does exactly what Tony wants as they tumble to the bed. 

“What kind of nightcap did you have in mind?” Tony snickers and hovers over Steve, leaning on his one arm. Deftly, Steve grabs him and flips him over to land softly on the bed. 

“Not sure, not like alcohol really does anything for me,” Steve says as his eyes roam over Tony’s face, watching him, searching for that connection. 

Tony reaches up and touches Steve’s cheek. “Well, there are other things.” He pauses and cocks his eyebrow. “Other things that might-.”

“Might what?” Steve whispers and their lips are only centimeters apart.

“Make all the difference in the world,” Tony murmurs and then – then every moment forward shifts and transforms. The doubts, the fears, all disintegrate and fade as there are alterations and variances and equations that change everything and make all the difference in the world.

THE END

**Author's Note:**

> This is my fill for lunatical's prompt:
> 
> Tony's gauntlet is a prosthetic, but Steve doesn't know that. He doesn't find out in the best way possible (you can decide what happens!). Loads of misunderstandings and hurt/comfort please.
> 
> I tried to hit all of the points, I hope you like it!


End file.
